Thunder get thumbs-up from BBL

19:04Wednesday 21 May 2008

THEY will be in the BBL next season. Worthing Thunder heard this week that they will be "promoted" from the English League because their application to join the elite competition in the country has been now officially accepted.

Thunder were EBL Division 1 champions in 2005-06 and 2006-07. They finished third last season and lost eight games.

In 2006-07, they completed an EBL Division 1 double when they added the playoffs crown to their regular season league title, having been runners-up the previous season.

In each of the last two seasons, they have been runners-up in the National Cup and National Trophy, having won the Trophy in 2003-04.

The region has a long and successful BBL history, but has not been represented in Britain's top flight since the departure of the Brighton Bears, formerly Worthing, in 2006.

The Thunder were one of four teams who appplied for next season and the only ones accepted by the BBL's Franchise Committee. Other parties are being consulted about the possibility of entry into Britain's top flight in the 2009-10 season.

The BBL Chief Operations Officer, Andy Webb, stated: "Worthing Thunder are a very strong addition to the BBL. They have an established programme and a track record of success – both at the senior level and with the junior programmes that are now considered to be so important to BBL clubs.

"The club has a strong foundation in the local community with a number of successful community initiatives already in place.

"Through their recent forays in the BBL Trophy, it is evident that they have the capability to compete at the top level of the professional game here in the UK, and their collection of EBL trophies in recent seasons is certainly an impressive one.

"Franchise development is key to the league's strategy for developing the game of basketball going forward and we are delighted to welcome the Thunder into the league, and pleased that the South-East will once more get the chance to savour BBL basketball.

"The BBL will provide the necessary support to the club to ensure that their transition to the top division is as smooth as possible, and I would like to wish them the best of luck for the new campaign."

Frank Gainsbury, Worthing Thunder's Chairman, commented: "The club has made great strides since its formation some nine years ago and the continued successes achieved during this time in the EBL have provided a solid basis for progression into the top basketball league in the UK.

"As a club we are mindful of the improvements we have to make both on and off the court to step up to the BBL, but we are sure that that this can be effectively achieved with the enthusiastic support of our loyal fans and our management team.

"We are looking forward to the challenges ahead and we know that our fans cannot wait to see BBL basketball back again in Worthing after so many years. Next season will be a landmark for the club and we hope that Thunder will continue to develop and grow into a successful BBL franchise.

"Our continued development of an already successful junior programme, and the ongoing opportunities to link into other community-related initiatives are essential requirements for the club to meet their targets. We consider that it is essential that the club continues to evolve - not only at the top level - but in all areas of our community.

"We look forward to contributing to the future success of the BBL and to basketball in Worthing and Sussex generally."

The Thunder organisation has long believed that they could compete at the top level, and last season's roster boasted some of the foremost talent from their region, many of whom have BBL experience. That includes Pat Bates, Daniel Hildreth, and Ciaran Burns, and Dan Midgley, brother of Everton and GB star Richard.

Other recent BBL stars have also featured for the club, including Gaylon Moore, who spent four years there, captained them, and won EBL Player of the Year in 2003, before joining the Kularoos Plymouth Raiders in 2005 and being the BBL's fourth leading rebounder this year.

-------------------------------------

Click here to go back to Worthing sport.

Where are you? Add your pin to the Herald's international readers' map by clicking here.

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

Worthing Herald provides news, events and sport features from the Worthing area. For the best up to date information relating to Worthing and the surrounding areas visit us at Worthing Herald regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website Worthing Herald requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.